The present invention relates to an apparatus for laminating items and which apparatus will also transfer adhesives to substrates for purposes of producing articles such as labels and stickers.
It is common practice to protect documents and other items such as cards by encasing them in clear plastic coverings. Various products known as protectors are available for this purpose. Another common way of protecting documents and similar items is to laminate them. Lamination involves sealing the document or item between oppositely applied transparent films and lamination is commonly applied to such items as driver""s licenses, identification cards membership cards and the like.
Another operation that is often applied to documents and papers is that of adhesive transfer. Adhesive transfer is an operation that is used to make articles such as labels and stickers. One manner of producing such labels is to print the labels on blanks provided for this purpose. The blanks generally have an adhesive backing and are secured to a liner from which they may be peeled at the time of use. Computer systems are available that have the capability of printing labels on liner label stock provided for this purpose. This manner of making labels or stickers is expensive and further is limiting in that the printed material must be adapted to the physical size or confines of the label or sticker carried on the liner. This limits the information and creativity that may be incorporated in label making.
In conventional apparatuses, the supply rolls are individually mounted to the apparatus frame. At times, this can result in the user matching up supply rolls incorrectly, which may cause problems during the master processing operation, including requiring removal and replacement of one or both rolls. Also, it is simply inconvenient for the user to match up two supply rolls and individually mount them to the apparatus frame.
The present invention provides a master processing apparatus for processing a master. The apparatus comprises a frame, a master processing assembly, and a feed roll carrier with first and second feed rolls carried on the carrier. The first and second feed rolls carry respective supplies of first and second stock material at least one of which has a layer of adhesive disposed thereon. The feed roll carrier holds the feed rolls together to enable the first and second feed rolls to be removably mounted together to the frame for unwinding and feeding of the stock materials into the master processing assembly. The master processing assembly is constructed and arranged to perform a master processing operation wherein the processing assembly causes adhesive bonding between the first and second stock materials and the master being fed therein and then subsequently discharges the processed master and stock materials.